Tell Me
by PrinslooPrentiss
Summary: Tension between Emily and Hotch arises after a case in San Diego doesn't end as planned. After Hotch demands to know the truth, Emily freezes him out until she can't handle it anymore. Maybe the truth will get both of them what they really want. *Please give it a chance!
1. Chapter 1

***Summary: **Tension between Emily and Hotch arises after a case in San Diego doesn't end as planned. After Hotch demands to know the truth, Emily freezes him out until she can't handle it anymore. Maybe the truth will get both of them what they really want.

***Disclaimer: **

_The follow material is used for entertainment purposes only; Behati and associations do not own any of the recognized characters or elements. All rights are reserved to the original creator(s) and network(s)._

**A/N:** Hi all! I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday! This idea came to me as I was flying over the Pacific Ocean so either it was my muse or…. my fear of heights begging me to something other than panic. In any event please let me know what you think- I hope you love it! xxB

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Emily Prentiss mindlessly tapped her pen rhythmically on her desk as she nervously chewed the inside of her lip. Across from her, Derek Morgan lifted his head clearly annoyed, "Princess… do you mind? Some of us actually have work we're trying to focus on" he said with a smirk.

Emily hadn't even heard Morgan and finally snapped to attention when she saw him waving a hand in front of her face. Dropping her pen she blushed slightly, "Oops sorry Derek. I wasn't really listening, what did you say?" she asked.

"Baby-girl, are you alright? You've been staring into blank space for nearly fifteen minutes" he stated with a hint of concern in his voice.

"Yeah I'm fine Morgan. Just… thinking" she replied, half-honestly.

"Anything you want to get off your chest?" he offered, obviously sensing there was more to it. "I mean, I haven't really been able to get these files down with your incessant pen-tapping anyways" he said jokingly, hoping to make her laugh. Instead all he got was another blush, this time accompanied with a soft sigh.

"Well, at least you have work to do" she said sounding frustrated, "I'm bored out of my mind. I have been almost all week. I never thought I'd actually want to see a mountain of case-files on my desk".

Morgan's eyes widened in surprise, that was definitely not what he had expected to hear since he himself had been just about buried in work for the past couple of weeks. "Are you kidding me Prentiss? How on earth have you finished that quickly?!" he asked, "the rest of us are drowning in paperwork. Hell, we're all so swamped I haven't even heard Reid spit out any irrelevant statistics".

Upon hearing this, Emily's eyes narrowed , "You mean I'm the_ only _one who hasn't been getting cases?"

Equally a confused as Emily, Morgan shrugged, "I…er… maybe you go ask Hotch. He's the one who's been piling all the work on us since San Diego a few weeks ago. I don't think I've ever seen Rossi work late before since I've been at the BAU" he said.

Now Emily was torn between feeling confused and feeling angry, why was she the only one who wasn't receiving work? Turning back to Morgan she verbalized her thoughts, "Well you all probably won't be so overwhelmed with all those files if I had been given my share. Why didn't Hotch give me anything to work on?" she wondered genuinely.

Morgan scoffed, "You're telling me baby-girl. Look, I'm more than willing to share my workload with you and I'll bet JJ, Reid and Rossi feel the same way. Did you do something to Hotch?" he asked, shrugging his shoulders as he nodded towards their Unit Chief's office.

Emily was about to answer 'no' when her thoughts immediately travelled to San Diego.

*FLASHBACK*

_"__Good job team. Let's wrap it up and head out. I'm sure you're all very eager to head back home" Hotch said as he spoke to his colleagues through the walkie . He watched as a local officer forcefully guided the recently apprehended unsub into one of the waiting police cars. Then turning his head, he quickly surveyed the scene. In the dark of night, the abandoned house that they had found the unsub squatting it seemed even more creepy than he suspected it usually did. His eyes followed Morgan and Reid as they headed towards one of the FBI-issued SUVs with matching exhausted expressions. He then shifted his glance over to the gate at the side of the house where Rossi was leading a visibly distraught JJ away from the dark crime-scene. He unconsciously felt a small grin come across his face, it had been a particularly tough case- especially for the women and he was glad that JJ had Rossi to offer her some comfort. 'Speaking of the ladies on his team' he thought to himself, 'where was Prentiss?'_

_Hotch had watched her hand the unsub to the officer but couldn't recall seeing her since. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed that the paramedic who was patching up his cuts seemed to be speaking to him. As he sat at the back of the ambulance he tried to politely inform the medics that he was fine and it was just a few scratches to no avail. Finally it appeared that they were done examining him and had given him the okay to leave. Catching a glimpse of Emily's dark, long ponytail, he mumbled a quick 'thank you' to the paramedic and began walking over the SUV that Emily was leaning on. _

_He approached the black vehicle cautiously, aware that she was very much feeling the effects of the job. "Prentiss…" he started, not knowing exactly what to say._

_"__Save it Hotch. I really don't feel like talking about what just happened right now" Emily said defensively as she began to move away from him._

_"__Emily" he said, catching her off-guard by the use of her given name. "We have to discuss your actions" he tried to say gently. But as she continued to walk farther away from him he found himself raising his voice as he trailed after her. "What you did not only could have compromised the entire case but not to mention it put everyone in there in danger, including yourself!" _

_"__Hold on! Everyone in there?" she echoed, "The only person in that situation who's safety I compromised was me Hotch" she spat back._

_"__Even if that was the case, you still purposely threw yourself in front of the barrel of the gun that was being held by a psychotic, misogynistic, sociopath who not only could have shot you but might I add, you were also within reach of him to grab you and…." he couldn't even bring himself to finish his sentence. "What were you thinking Emily?" he asked, once again stunning her with her first name._

_Emily felt tears welling up in her eyes and turned away so that he wouldn't see._

_Unfortunately for her, Hotch saw a single teardrop glisten under the moonlight and had to resist the urge to put a wrap his arms around her and try to offer her some sort of comfort. Why couldn't she see that he was just concerned. Instead he softly said, "Just tell me why you did it. Is there something going on? Were you distracted?" he wondered._

_Emily's eyes flew shut and she bit down on her lip 'Great now he's going to question my capabilities' she thought as a burst of pain and anger flashed through her. She spun around, "No Agent Hotchner, I thought it was the best move at the time. That's all. Obviously I was mistaken so I don't think there's any need for further discussion Sir." she said blankly._

_Hotch was taken aback by her tone and the distance in her eyes forcing him to return to his usual professional stoic manner. "That's absurd Prentiss" he said going back to her last name, "I had the situation under control and you know it. I was on the verge of talking him down" he said knowingly. _

_"__Look, you were standing there unarmed, without a vest and I made a poor decision. But in the end we got him and no one got hurt what more do you want" she asked rhetorically as her tears were now betraying her._

_"__The truth" he answered simply, as he stood there confused and unsure of what to do next since it was clear she wasn't telling him everything._

_Emily shook her head ever so slightly and nervously chewed on the bottom of her lip to try and stop the tears. She tried to avoid his deep, dark gaze for fear of totally losing all control of her emotions. "Good night Agent Hotchner" she said quietly before turning on the heal of her boot and walking towards on of the vehicles that was heading back to the hotel. _

*End of Flashback*

As Emily recounted that night, she felt a cold shiver run down her back. She and Hotch had barely exchanged two words that weren't directly related to a case, let alone further discuss the events of San Diego. '_Huh_' she thought, maybe he was still upset with her.

"Princess?" Morgan asked, pulling her once again away from her thoughts. "You have got to stop tuning me out like that".

"Sorry" Emily mumbled as she stared up at Hotch's office .

Derek followed her gaze, "What did you do now Em? Are you secretly trying to get fired and leave me to do all this work by myself?" he said with a laugh.

Emily barely even heard Morgan as she got up out of her chair and started to head up the short set of stairs. She was going to find out what was going on and if indeed her little stunt in California was going to end up costing her job.

"Emily! It was a joke!" Morgan cried out after her with a shake of his head just as Emily was approaching Hotch's closed door.

From the other side of the door, Hotch heard a soft knock and sighed, "Come in".

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**A/N:** Thanks for reading! I will most likely be continuing this but let me know what you think! xxB.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **If you have a spare second I would really appreciate your feedback :) B

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"Do you have a minute…uh Sir?" Emily asked nervously as she opened the door a little wider.

Hotch was surprised to see her at his door, but forced himself to keep a blank expression on his face. "Now's not actually a good time Prentiss I'm really swamped with work. Is it urgent?" he asked, testing the waters. He did his best to subtly move files around on his desk to make it seem like he had actually been doing work and not spending the last few hours with his head in the clouds.

"That's actually what I came to talk to you about" Emily said, inviting herself further into his office and softly closing the door behind her (if she was getting fired, she definitely did not want the entire bullpen to be able to hear it). "I've um noticed that everyone has been working really hard on a stack of case files and uh, stuff but… well… everyone except me that is… and I was just wondering if… um…" she stammered. _'God, he wasn't going to make this easy for her was he_?' she thought.

Hotch had to physically resist the urge to smile, _'Damn she was so adorable when she was like this'_ he mentally noted. Emily Prentiss was never a woman at a loss for words, and yet here she was, this incredibly strong and professional woman _stammering_ over him. He was finding it harder and harder to remain professional as he watched her normally ivory cheeks, redden as she blushed. In fact, everything about her made him forget that everything and anything else in the word existed. He'd be lying if he said she wasn't the main cause of his so-far very unproductive day.

Hotch had intended on finishing at least the small stack of paperwork that Garcia had dropped off on his desk this morning, unfortunately he had made the mistake of looking out into the bullpen. As usual, as soon as he had seen the dark-haired agent he had felt his heart flutter. He had been attracted to her for as long as he could remember, but lately he found himself allowing his thoughts to wonder off, imagining what their life would be like together.

It was getting harder and harder to be around her without wanting to abruptly blurt out his feelings. He come close a few times, but sadly, that nagging voice of responsibility in his head always ruined it for him. In the past months he had even convinced himself that there could be _a possibility_ of his feelings be reciprocated. But then the San Diego case happened, and he began to question whether of not Emily could even trust him, let alone potentially fall in love with him.

"If what Prentiss? I don't have all day, I have a "_stack of case files and uh, stuff"_ to do" he said, echoing her previous words.

Emily bit down on her lower lip and forced herself to meet his intense gaze, "If you're planning of firing me. If that's why I haven't gotten any new cases. If this is because of what happened in San Diego" she managed to get out. When he didn't answer right away she went on, "I know you don't agree with what I did but Hotch-"

She was interrupted when Hotch finally got out of his chair and stood up, "Prentiss first off you are _not_ getting fired" he reassured her, "_but_, I have lessened your workload for the time being"

"You don't trust my judgment?" she questioned as she raised an eyebrow.

"It's not that black and white" he tried to explain.

"Oh but I think it Hotch. You think I put myself in danger on purpose to… to what? Kill myself?" she asked angrily.

Hotch shook his head and took a couple of steps closer towards her so that he wouldn't have to yell across his office. "You're missing the point, I'd like to go out on a limb here and say that _none_ of my agents are suicidal but in all honesty is that I don't know why you did it because you won't tell me the truth. I've known you for years now and the Agent Prentiss I know has never in her entire career here with the BAU made such a rash decision. And before you tell me that you thought it was necessary, I'll save you the time and tell you that we both know it isn't true. So I'll try it again Emily… Tell me, why."

"Are you kidding me? I've spent the past week organizing and re-organizing my desk because you don't feel I've properly justified my professional actions" she scoffed in irritation. "I told you that night and I'll tell you again. The unsub had his hand on the trigger, he was frantically waving the gun around in your face and there you were trying to be superman without a vest or a gun. He would've killed you while you were trying to have a_ conversation_ with him!".

"It wasn't your call to make. If he had acted violently, that would've been solely on me. But I'd like to think that by now I'm good enough at my job to gage an unsub's behavior. If you can't trust me…" Hotch trailed on, his eyebrows furrowing, not quite understanding what she was saying..

"Of course I trust you Hotch!" Emily exclaimed before letting out a cry of frustration. "Ugh! Now it's YOU who's missing the point here Aaron" she continued, surprising him with the rare use of his first name. "This isn't about trust! It's…"

"What is about Emily?" Hotch asked in a low voice and took a bold step closer to her. As he watched her eyes darken with what he could only hope was lust, he was beginning to see where she was going with all of this. And if he was right '_God he hoped he was right'_ then …_'First things first'_ he thought to himself, he needed to hear it, he needed her to say it. Turning back to the object of his affection he made another small step, slowly closing the distance between them and stared into deep, chestnut eyes. "Tell me.."

**A/N**: Please review if you get a chance. I have plans for this one but…. Let me know what you think! xxB


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**: Hi! Quick note- sorry for delay in updates…. My flight was delayed over 5 hours and then the plane lost my luggage so yeah. On another note I would just like to take the opportunity to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone to has supported my work. Means more to me than words can say! Also I think this chapter may venture into some heavy T/light M territory… fair warning! x

Emily felt like time was standing still. Surely they had been standing there in his office for hours. She had come up to see him expecting to be yelled at, or even fired after she had deliberately broken protocol in San Diego. But now here they were standing less than a foot away from each other and she could almost feel the heat emanating off of her boss's body. It took Hotch's soft whisper to make Emily realize that she'd stopped breathing as she watched every step he took towards her. Finally, she forced herself to swallow and began to feel the rise and fall of her chest again; and as Hotch bravely closed the small gap between them, he could also feel the slight movement against his own chest and it took everything in him not to let out a small moan.

Slowly, he leaned forward until his lips were barely grazing her ear and in a hushed voice whispered "Emily…"

Emily's eyes fluttered shut as she heard and rather, _felt _Hotch say her name_, her given name _against her hot skin and it was all it took to send her emotions flying over the edge. Emily turned her cheek towards Aaron and reveled in the slight scent of his cologne. Ever so slowly, she dared herself to meet his intense, dark gaze before taking in a small breath. In a barley audible voice, she whispered, "I'm in love with you Aaron… I thought I was going to lose you and I know you're not even mine to lost but I-".

Before Emily could finish, she felt Aaron lips on hers as he pulled her flush against his body. He marveled in the softness of her full lips and instantly felt his pants grow tighter at the sensation of one Emily Prentiss pressed up against him. Unable to hold back anymore, Hotch let out a low moan as his tongue swiped the crease of Emily's soft lips, begging for entrance.

Eagerly, Emily parted her lips and snaked her hands around his neck, adjusting her head as she sought to deepen the kiss. Their tongues battled for dominance and Emily smiled against Aaron's mouth when he finally let her take control. Emily had her eyes shut tight, afraid of opening them to find this all to be another one of her dreams. _'God' _she thought. He tasted better than she could have ever imagined; she could feel her panties soaking and all from one kiss.

As she hooked her leg around Hotch's hip, desperate to be closer to him, she felt his hot mouth latch onto to the sensitive skin beneath her ear as he worked his way down her neck. Emily's eyes fluttered and she moaned in such pleasure that Aaron had to quickly return his kiss to her slightly swollen lips, not wanting anyone to hear them.

With a gentle tug, Aaron pulled them back onto his black leather couch that sat underneath his window into the bullpen; and in this moment he was very glad he had remember to shut the blinds before Emily entered his office.

Emily straddled him without breaking their kiss and found herself frantically removing his suit jacket. Even through both their pants, Hotch could feel hot wet and ready she was and it gave him great animalistic pride to know that he had done that. But he lost all conscious thought when he felt Emily begin to grind slowly against his very hard member. Emily's hands teased through Hotch's short hair as she felt him begin to undo the buttons of her blouse.

Emily was desperate for more of him but her desperation for air won out and she reluctantly pulled back. Not yet daring to look into his eyes, she placed a soft kiss on his lips and watched the rise and fall of his chest. Finally she brought herself to stare into his deep, brown eyes. Hotch gave her another kiss on the lips before returning to the spot on her neck he had come to realize drove her crazy. As she brought his lips back to hers she was about to continue kissing him when she heard David Rossi's obnoxiously loud voice in the bullpen teasing Reid about something or another. The sound of their teammates voices seemed to pull both of them back into reality and Emily immediately felt her cheeks begin to flush with utter embarrassment.

"Oh my God. What am I doing?" she whispered as she covered her face with her hands, _'I just had a heavy make-up session with my boss… in his office'_ she thought to herself before frantically climbing off of Hotch and racing to button her shirt back up as she headed for the door.

"Emily wait!" Hotch called out to her. He stood up, not knowing exactly what to say, but certainly knowing he didn't want her to leave. "I don't-" he started.

"I have to go…" she said cutting him off as he hurried down into the bullpen to grab her purse and coat.

She quickly straightened herself and ran a hand through her tousled hair just before her teammates noticed her presence.

Reid looked up from his computer, only barley noticing that she had been gone in the first place, "Hey Emily, where were-" he stopped when he noticed her franticness as she knocked over a cup of pens on her desk.

The sound of pens falling everywhere got the rest of team's attention and Morgan got up from his chair, "Princess? How'd it go with Hotch? Wait where are you going?" he asked as the rest of their friends and colleagues began to gather around the two of them.

Emily couldn't bring herself to look at any of them, instead she did silently thanked her years of training with the Ambassador and did her best to pull together a calm and collected tone, "Oh, hey guys, I just uh, have to uh, go " she managed to mumble _'oh yeah that was really smooth Emily'_ she thought sarcastically to herself as she looked around for her coat, already having her bag in one hand.

"Emily! What happened? He didn't actually fire you did you? I was just kidding around I didn't actually think-" Morgan began but was cut off by JJ.

"Whoa! _Fire_ you? What's going on Em? JJ asked, her voice full of concern and also a little confusion.

Only half listening to them Emily sputtered, "What? Um no! Well, I don't' uh... where is my coat?!"

"Prentiss stop! Look at me!" Rossi tried with no luck.

Realizing her coat was in the locker room and not wanting to have to be here a second longer, she looked up at the group in front of her and did her best to fight back the growing tears in her eyes, "Everything's fine" she lied as she began to back away towards the elevators, "I just need to…. go" and with a small stroke of luck the elevator DING'd as soon as she pressed the button and only after the metal doors closed did she finally allow herself to cry.

**A/N**: Please, please, please review!?


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Sorry for the wait! Here's a nice, long chapter to make up for it! Please enjoy and review! Cheers!

Morgan briefly thought about going after his friend to try and comfort her but ultimately decided to give her some space. When he looked up from the ground, he found three pairs of angry eyes on him. "What?" he asked innocently.

"What's going on Derek? Care to tell me why Emily just left?" JJ asked sternly, her hands resting on her hips.

"JJ, if I knew why she was upset, I wouldn't be as confused as you guys" he reasoned.

From his desk, Reid piped up, "I think what JJ means is that you have more context than the rest of us. For one, you seemed to think it was a possibility that Emily was going to get fired, which is actually not very probable at all given that she's one of the top profilers in the BAU and that-".

"IT WAS A JOKE!" Morgan said exasperatingly, cutting off the boy-genius. He quickly filled the rest of the team in on his conversation with Emily earlier and finished by saying, "…I really didn't even think her getting fired was a possibility" he said just as Garcia was walking towards them.

"Who's getting fired?" she asked cheerfully, unaware of what was going on and clearly in the mood for some harmless office gossip. Just as the perky technical analyst plopped down on Derek's desk, the whole team heard the loud slam of a door.

Their heads snapped towards Hotch's office where their supervisor was now coming down the stairs looking even more distressed than Emily had. In an even sterner tone than usual he turned to his team "_No one_ is getting fired, but I can certainly arrange for someone to be fired if the five of you don't get back to work _now_" he said angrily. He hated that they thought he had fired Emily, when in fact that was the furthest thing from the truth.

The team scattered to make themselves busy, sensing that Hotch was not in any mood for their antics and noticing that he seemed to be on his way out with his coat and keys in tow.

As Hotch made his way to the elevator he was not surprised to find David Rossi trailing behind him.

"What do you want Dave?" he asked without even turning around as he tapped his foot impatiently waiting for the elevator to come.

"Hmmm.. well, I want ten million dollars, more vacation days, my own helicopter" Rossi said sarcastically.

Hotch groaned and rolled his eyes, "Dave!"

"OH! You mean what do I want right now? That would be for you to tell me what's going on" Rossi said smugly, getting in-between Hotch and the elevator, forcing his friend to look at him.

Hotch rolled his eyes, "Nothing's going on" he replied in a voice that didn't even convince himself.

"Really? Because I find it very hard to believe that Emily storming out of here clearly very upset and you leaving only moments after, most likely to go after her is not a coincidence" Dave said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"I never told you where I was going" Hotch mumbled

"Be that as it may, you'd be the world's biggest moron not go after her" Rossi replied nonchalantly.

Hotch bit down on his tongue as he pressed the elevator button a couple more times, as if that would make it come any faster. "You know what? I can't have this conversation right now. I'm just going to take the stairs".

Just as Hotch was pushing open the door to the stairwell, Rossi called out after him, "Don't break her heart Aaron" he said simply. He was just about to turn around to head back to the bullpen he heard the slam of the door that Hotch had let close.

"Damn it Rossi! Why does everyone think I'm the bad guy here?" he Aaron snapped, not actually expecting an answer.

"Well maybe it's because a strong, beautiful woman who is very obviously _in love with you_ just ran out of the building, fighting back tears, not even bothering to grab her coat in the middle of winter, right after leaving _your_ office… that doesn't exactly paint you in good light Aaron" Dave said honestly.

Hotch looked down at the ground. "Fine, I didn't handle the situation as well as I could have but is it so hard to believe that _she_ ran out on _me_. That I want to be the guy to hold that same woman in his arms and comfort her, the guy lucky enough to go to sleep and wake up lying beside her, to cherish her…. Rossi I would never break my heart, but she just about broke mine up there. God, I'm so in love with that woman and I don't even think she knows" he said, feeling very dejected.

"Well… did you tell her?" Rossi asked simply.

"Of course I-" he began to answer when suddenly Hotch's face paled. '_No you didn't Aaron. She told you she was in love with you and you just started undressing her'_ he scolded himself.

"Oh God" he said aloud as he pinched the bridge of his nose just as the elevator finally arrived with a DING!

"You should probably get on this elevator huh? You may not get another chance" he said jokingly but hoping that Hotch would understand what he was really saying.

As Hotch got into the elevator he looked up at his friend who was wearing an unsurprisingly smug smile, "Thanks Rossi" he said sincerely as the metal doors closed in front of him.

Emily shivered as she rode her apartment elevator all the way up to her floor. She didn't live too far from the BAU but walking around the streets of Virginia in the middle of winter, even for only a couple of blocks without a coat on took its toll.

Looking in the elevator's mirror she realized just how badly she actually needed to dry off; her hair was lightly covered with white snowflakes, her cheeks were stained with her tears and her clothes were sadly, very, very wet. Sighing she stepped out of the elevator and kept her head down, not wanting to see anyone in her current state. She had managed to bypass her sweet doorman's attempts to offer her his own coat and now all she wanted was to slip into a hot bubble bath and forget that this day had even happened.

Unfortunately for her just as she was reaching into her pockets for her keys, her elderly next-door neighbor shuffled over to where Emily was standing outside her front door.

"Oh dear. Agent Prentiss… what happened to you? Are you okay?" she asked, her voice full of concern.

"I'm fine Mrs. McFin just forgot my coat at the office that's all" Emily replied with her best fake smile as she fiddled with her keys, desperate to get into her apartment.

Mrs. McFin looked Emily up and down and shook her head. "Nonsense Emily. You're dripping from the snow. You're going to catch a cold dressed like that. I'm going to make you my special soup" she decided.

"Oh, no, no, no. That's really not necessary Mrs. McFin. Thank you but all I really want is to take a hot bath and go to sleep. I've had a rough day" Emily said honestly.

"All the more reason to have a hot cup of my soup" Mrs. McFin insisted as she began to walk away.

Emily groaned internally, "No! Please Mrs. McFin… I just want to be left alone for a while. Thank you so much though" Emily said quickly before finally placing her key in the door and slipping into her apartment before Mrs. McFin could argue.

Swiftly closing the door behind her, she finally let out a heavy sigh and found warm tears beginning to trickle down her face. She was felling so many things: hurt, embarrassed, stupid, '_Why did I have to jump my incredibly gorgeous boss'_ she asked herself '_God, I made such a fool of myself'_ she thought.

Emily threw her purse and keys carelessly on her hallway table and began to shiver again. Desperately needing to get out of the terribly wet, cold fabrics, she impatiently started to shed her clothes. She unbuttoned her blouse, and tossed it on the floor, unconcerned with where it fell. Gasping when the cool draft hit her newly exposed skin, she made quick work of her pants, stepped out of the pool of material at her feet and kicked them to the side. Stripped down to her bra and panties, she looked around her empty apartment and vulnerably gave herself a tight hug, suddenly wishing she were back in Hotch's arms.

Just as she was about to head upstairs for much needed warmth, there was a knock at her door '_probably Mrs. McFin trying to give me soup again'_ she thought to herself. Emily froze in her place and hoped that if she didn't make any sound that she might just go away. Sadly, she was wrong; only seconds later another knock came, sounding a little more forceful this time. Emily groaned and rolled her eyes as she made her way back towards the front door knowing she wouldn't get any peace until she took the damn soup.

Emily tossed her long, cold, wet hair over her shoulder and paused; she looked down at her body, only covered by a damp, lacy black bra and panties and briefly thought about putting on her wet blouse again before opening the door. Staring at the wet pieces of clothes scattered across her hallway she ultimately deciding that Mrs. McFin would be too busy fussing over the soup to even notice that she was practically naked. Well that… and she really didn't want to get back into wet clothes, even just for a minute.

As she walked towards the door she heard another knock and hoped that by answering the door barely clothes, she could graciously but _quickly_ take the soup without having to have any more small talk. Sighing, she shamelessly reached to open the door; fully expecting to find her grandmotherly neighbor standing on the other side of the door she began, "Thank you Mrs. McFin but I-"

But as she swung the door open, she abruptly stopped herself mid-sentence, her eyes widening and face flushing. It was not Mrs. McFin at her door, and oh how badly she suddenly wished that it was. All of the sudden she found her feet frozen in place, unable to move and not at all for lack of wanting to. Swallowing deeply she managed to meekly make out one word, only one, both a question and statement. In a soft voice Emily whispered, "Hotch?"

**A/N:** Have a good weekend everyone! So what do you think? Review please? xo


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** Thanks for reading this far! Had a hard time writing this one. Please keep reviewing! Xo

Hotch struggled to find his voice while trying desperately to take his eyes off of Emily's exposed body. He had always known that Emily was a beautiful woman, and God knows he had imagined what was hidden beneath her usual power suit but as he stared at the unbelievably gorgeous women standing in front of him, he realized his fantasies had never done her justice. As his eyes worked their way up from her tiny waist and rock solid abs to her generous chest, all the way up to her beautiful brown eyes and wet and tousled hair, he began to feel his pants grow tighter. Just as he cleared his throat he heard the footsteps and voices of other tenants getting closer.

Surprising both Hotch and herself, Emily grabbed his arm and pulled him inside, doing her best to shield herself with the door in the process. "I'd rather not flash my neighbors" she began, "It's bad enough that…. Never mind. What are you doing here?" she asked, as she looking around her hallway desperately trying to find sweater or robe that she might have left lying around.

Trying to shake his thoughts, he started to remove his suit jacket. As he did so, he shifted the contents in his arms and that's when Emily noticed he was holding a larger container of soup. Ignoring her questioning gaze, he handed her his jacket, so that she wouldn't have to feel embarrassed by her lack of attire… _'Even though it's not like she has anything to be embarrassed about'_ he thought to himself.

Emily's face softened, touched by his gesture "Thank you" she said quietly. As she slipped on the garment was reveled in its scent; it smelled just like… well… Hotch. Trying to take it in subtly, she fought the flutter of her eyes as she inhaled a perfect combination of mint and his cologne.

As Hotch watched painfully as Emily gave into the close of her eyes, and he finally cleared his throat as he remembered that he was still holding her soup, "I… um…. your neighbor… the one who you uh thought was… well" he trailed, lost for words.

"Hotch?" Emily questioned, half amused; she had never seen the stoic SSAIC Hotchner stutter like this before.

"Oh, right I er, ran into Mrs. McFin and she was rambling about missing her soap opera so I offered to bring the soup to you" he finally managed to spit out.

"You came all the way to my apartment building to bring me my neighbor's soup just so that she wouldn't miss The Young and the Restless?" Emily asked skeptically, while gratefully taking the soup from him and heading towards her kitchen.

As Hotch followed her further into his apartment he watched the sway of her hips and bit down on the inside of his cheek when he noticed that his suit jacket fell just shy of the swell of her behind.

Hotch rubbed his temples with one of his hands, she was torturing him that was for sure. Shaking his head, he knew he had been an idiot back at the office and right now all he wanted to do was pull this beautiful woman into his arms and tell her how head over heels in love with her he was.

Hotch looked up when he heard the pitter-patter of Emily's soft footsteps coming back, "Are you okay Aaron?" she asked, concerned.

Emily bit down lightly on her lower lip and wondered what he was really doing here, _'Oh God, maybe he's here to fire me for jumping him. At the very least he's probably here to let me down easily and send to a sexual harassment seminar' _she nervously thought, clearly very unaware of the true reason that Aaron had come to her apartment. Emily's face softened and she looked down at the floor, "Look Hotch…. You don't need to say anything it's okay. I was…. My actions were…." Her cheeks were flushing and she wished for nothing more than to be able to sink into the ground right now. "Please just go" she finally whispered.

Hotch's eyes brows burrowed in confusion, "Wait, Emily, what are you-" he started to ask, but as he saw the hurt look in her eyes and the soft red stain in her cheeks, he finally understood. _'Damn it'_ he thought, _'She thinks she did something wrong, that I don't feel the same'_ he pieced together. Hotch could feel his heart racing, this was not how he had imagined this moment going. Emily had opened the door in nothing but her underwear; he had fully expected her to slam the door in his face. He had had every intention on letting her put on some clothes before pouring his heart out to her. So he was surprised when Emily had pulled him into her apartment and even more surprised that now that she couldn't see how terribly in love with her he was. He could tell that she was waiting for him to move or at least say something and damn it _he_ was waiting for him to say something but for the life of him he just couldn't find the words. So instead, he took a bold step closer to her and met her dark gaze, locking his own chestnut eyes on hers, not wanting her to turn away from him.

Emily bit down on the bottom of her lip nervously, '_why isn't he leaving?_' she wondered. "Hotch, please. I don't want to talk about it. It was stupid,_ I_ was stupid. I acted without thinking and I'm s-"

Hotch put his hands tightly on her bare hips, giving her a light squeeze before interrupting her, 'Emily stop. You are certainly not stupid, and if anyone here should be sorry, it's me" he began.

Now Emily was nervous _and _confused, "Hotch, you don't have to-"

Again, Hotch gave her a light squeeze and cut her off, "Emily, please just let me talk for a minute" he said with a smile that revealed his dimples as he reached to take her small hands in his.

Nodding slightly, Emily stared into Hotch's eyes and felt a shiver run through her body.

"Emily…. I. Love. You." he started, "I've loved you for so long now that I can't even remember a time when I wasn't in love with you. When you came into my office this morning and told me how you felt, I couldn't believe it, I was so overcome with happiness that I didn't even think to tell you that I love you. Because of course I do Emily, how could I not?" Hotch spoke with a passion that he hadn't heard in himself in a very long time. He watched as warm tears trickled down Emily's face and he gently wiped them away. Emily's hands her now resting on his chest and he returned his to bracket her hips.

"I'm sorry that I made you think, for even a second that your feelings were not reciprocated… "I love you" he said again with conviction. He watched as the corners of Emily's mouth slowly turned up and he then he whispered, "I love you Emily. Let me show you".

**A/N:** Please review! You guys rock xx


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** Hope you love it! Drop me a line if you get a chance! Also, fair warning- this chapter will dabble into M rated territory. Thanks for reading!

Emily hit the bed with a soft thud and let out a slow moan as Hotch's mouth latched onto that sensitive spot below her ear, the same spot that had drive her crazy this morning.

Against her soft skin, Hotch smiled, he loved that his touch invoked such sweet sounds. Hotch held Emily lovingly as she pushed his pants to the floor. He had already shed his shirt somewhere on their way to the bedroom and tossed his suit jacket that Emily had been wearing to the side, leaving very little between them. Gently, he lifted Emily slightly off of the bed and grinned when he finally maneuvered the clasp of her bra.

"Mm, Aaron" she moaned as Hotch turned his attention to her breasts, kneading and caressing them with such care. He took one of her erect nipples in his mouth and twirled his tongue around the bud. Aaron's touch had her wet and desperate to feel him. "Aaron" she pleaded in a breathy moan.

"Shh. Patience Emily" Hotch whispered as he took his time with her body. "God you're so beautiful" he told her. Finally in one swift motion Hotch freed them both of their underwear leaving nothing more to separate them.

"Please Aaron… please touch me" Emily begged, longing for him.

Leaning back, Aaron took in the moment; withering beneath him was the woman he had been in love with for years, her loose tousled hair damp and sprawled across the bed. As he slowly began to fulfill Emily's wishes he watched as her dark brown eyes fluttered open and close at his touch and he felt himself grow even harder as she continued to moan his name, his given name. Addicted to her taste, he leaned down to capture Emily's mouth with his own one more time before finally joining them together.

Emily let out a sharp gasp and dug her nails into Aaron's back as he stretched and filled her. She could see his face flooding with concern as he asked softly, "Are you okay?".

She removed one of her hands from her grip around Hotch and rested it on the side of his face as he turned into it, pressing a soft kiss to the palm of her hand. Emily smiled, she had never been with anyone who cared about her this much. Biting down on her lower lip she nodded, "Yeah it's just…. been… a while for me" she said bashfully. In fact it had been months since he had been intimate with anyone and she remembered picturing Aaron the whole time. Now here she was wrapped tightly around the man of her dreams and part of her was still waiting to wake up from a dream. It only took her a moment more to adjust to his length and as he reached up to pull Hotch back down to her as she felt him begin to pull in and out ever so slowly at first.

Emily felt her walls clenching around Aaron as she panted, "Oh!" she cried out when she felt him speed up, hitting her hard in all the right places.

As he moved inside her Hotch began dropping kisses across every inch of skin he could reach being sure to pay special attention to her breasts, massaging and biting them as he pleased.

"Oh God Aaron!" Emily exclaimed as she threw her head back in ecstasy. Hotch took full advantage of his opportunity and latched onto her neck sucking hard and causing Emily to gasp out again.

"Emily…God, you're so hot and wet, is that all for me?" he whispered in her ear.

Emily almost felt her eyes roll back in head with the combination of Aaron's deep thrusts inside her and his hot and breathy voice in her ear.

"God yes… all.. for you. Always.. you" she managed to get out. She could feel her climax building inside and was doing everything to bring him along with her. Pulling him flush against her she pressed her chest into him as she ran her tongue around the rim of his mouth dominating his tongue under hers. With every bit of strength she had left in her, she managed to flip them in one fluid movement without even breaking their kiss

Now on top, she threw her head back again as he rode him, slowly at first and then faster as she sunk even deeper into him. Finally, Aaron flipped them again and Emily smirked internally '_always the alpha male'_ she thought lightly before returning Aaron's passionate kiss. As Aaron loved her harder and faster, Emily was sure she was reaching the edge and with a final thrust hitting her right in the spot, she screamed out in pleasure as she came full force.

Emily's climax triggered his own and as they came together he held her tightly in his arms planting small kisses oh her.

Panting heavily, she watched as Aaron gently pulled out of her and to her relief lay down beside her pulling her close. He wiped away a few beads of perspiration away from her forehead and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear before pressing a chaste kiss to her forehead.

Emily was silent, searching for something to say, she had never really experience the "after sex" part of sex before. This was all so wonderfully intimate and new for her. Luckily it Aaron that spoke first, "Emily… if I didn't it abundantly clear…. I love you. And I want to be with you… very, very much" he said simply as he stared into her big, brown, beautiful eyes.

Emily felt a warm tear trickle down her face as Aaron leaned in to kiss her. Her lips were warm and soft against his but as his tongue edged the crease of her lips, she reluctantly pulled away.

She snuggled closer to him laying her hand across his muscular chest and tucking her head in the crook of his neck. "You know you really scared me back in San Diego. I mean, I always worry whenever you're in those situations, we all do. But that day…" she trailed. "That was when I realized just how hopelessly in love I am with you" she said quietly as she traced small patterns on his chest. "I realized that if something ever happened to you Aaron…" she began, unable to finish her sentence.

Aaron squeezed her reassuringly and his hand on top of hers, "Why didn't you ever tell me how you felt? We could've saved a whole lot of time" he said with a smile that revealed his small dimples.

Without meeting his gaze, Emily quietly said "I didn't think in a million years that you could ever feel the same way. At first I thought my feelings would just, you know… go away. But after San Diego I realized that regardless of how you felt about me, I had to admit to myself that I'm in love with you, and I probably always will be" she said, speaking quietly and vulnerably.

Aaron surprised her when he started chuckling to himself.

"You find that funny Hotchner? " Emily asked as she began to pull away.

"No. Emily, I'm laughing at myself. God, I'm such an idiot. I wasted so much time pining over a woman I thought could never love someone like me. Meanwhile you…. You… you love me" he said almost in disbelief as he pulled her back into him.

Emily smiled, "I do" she replied.

Looking at the clock on her wall, Emily's eyebrows burrowed, "Hey, don't you have to go get Jack from school?" she asked.

Hotch simply looked back at her and smiled, he was so lucky to have found someone who not only cares about him, but cares about his son. "He's going to a friend's house for a sleepover" he said with a smirk.

Emily suddenly propped herself up on her elbows and turned to look at him, "Oh… well in that case, how about we have a sleepover of our own?" she said with a smirk of her own.

Hotch grinned and rolled her over so that he was back on top of her, "Are you propositioning me Agent Prentiss?" he teased.

Emily leaned up and placed a kiss on her lips, "Maybe. What do you say? Would you like to spend the night with me Agent Hotchner?" she asked pulling him down to her.

Hotch smiled as he heard her giggle under him, "Oh darling, I would like to spend the rest of my life with you".

**A/N: **Voila! Hope you guys enjoyed it! I have a few new stories in the works, so keep an eye out. And as always, THANK YOU so much for the support! Cheers! Ps. I'm thinking about dabbling with a Criminal Minds/The Mentalist crossover, what do you think? Would you guys read it?


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